Is it ok to give up on a book you’re reading? Ian Leslie, a wonderful writer who has got a book coming next year on lying, considers this question at his wonderful blog, Marbury: In my view the answer to this perennial question is a resounding Yes. The reason is simple: there are too many books worth…
Monthly Archives: December 2010
Culture of Science, Uncategorized
A Funny Arsenic Smell Upstream — What questions is it fair to ask about squishy science?
by David Dobbs •
Are we squeezing everything we should out of the arsenic story? Some would say so. I’m not so sure. In a quick post-mortem yesterday on the Lake Mono bacterium, Brian Reid neatly ticks off how the “arsenic soap opera,” as he put it, “illustrates five trends in health and science communication that are likely to…
Uncategorized
The Head of the Harvard Library System is Pissed
by David Dobbs •
Robert Darnton rips into the journal system: In 2007 I became director of the Harvard University Library, a strategic position from which to take the full measure of the business constraints on academic life. Although economic conditions had worsened, the faculty’s understanding of them had not improved. How many professors in chemistry can give you…
Uncategorized
Does Your Genetic Information Long to Be Free? You’re fixin’ to find out
by David Dobbs •
John Hawks ponders the day, very soon to come, when high school students will run their genome sequences in bio lab instead of their blood types. He’s riffing off an article by Ronald Bailey in Reason about Bailey’s experiences with his own genomic knowledge (“I’ll Show You My Genome. Will You Show Me Yours?”) Some…
Uncategorized
Are We There Yet? Slow travel with Peter Matthiessen
by David Dobbs •
Culture of Science, Uncategorized
Arsenic and Primordial Ooze: A History Lesson
by David Dobbs •
In the Guardian’s weekly podcast today, I discuss the Wolfe-Simon Mono Lake bacteria paper with science editor Alok Jha and astrobiologist Zita Martins. Our post-mortem covers the hype before and after the press conference; the questions raised about the study’s methods and findings; NASA’s attempt to ignore (and get everyone else to ignore) those questions;…
Uncategorized
Maybe the Coolest Lego Gizmo Ever: The Antikythera Mechanism
by David Dobbs •
One of the prettier things I’ve seen on the ‘net lately: a recreation of an ancient computing device called the Antikythera Mechanism. The Antikythera Mechanism in Lego from Small Mammal on Vimeo. The Antikythera Mechanism — just one is known — is an ancient Greek computing device discovered in a shipwreck in 1901. It took…
Uncategorized
The Wrong Stuff: NASA Dismisses Arsenic Critique Because Critical Priest Not Standing on Altar
by David Dobbs •
A NASA spokesperson has dismissed a major critique of the Science arsenic bug paper based not on the criticism’s merits, but on its venue — it appeared in a blog rather than a peer-reviewed journal. Apparently ideas are valid (or not) based not on their content, or even the reputation of the author, but on…
Uncategorized
Is That Arsenic-Loving Bug — Formerly an Alien — a Dog?
by David Dobbs •
You know that arsenic-loving bacteria briefly mistaken for an alien? The bug, which roiled the science press earlier this week when it rode an unusually high and steep hype parabola, endured a firey re-entry today when University of British Columbia bacteriologist Rosie Redfield ripped into both the research and the paper — and was quickly…
Uncategorized
The Real Scoop on Aliens Oops Arsenic in Old Lakes
by David Dobbs •
Been a lot of hype over some strange life forms found in Lake Mono, encouraged, unfortunately, by some breathless, teasing press releases from NASA. But amid the muddle you can find some nuanced clarity in two stories in particular, from Nature News and Not Exactly Rocket Science. First, Alla Katsnelson brings some good balanced coverage…
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